The Milky Way's Magnetic Field and Dust Polarization

The magnetic field of our Milky Way Galaxy as seen by ESA's Planck satellite. This image was compiled from the first all-sky observations of polarized light emitted by interstellar dust in the Milky Way. The magnetic field is displayed using a visualization technique called line integral convolution (LIC).

Darker regions correspond to stronger polarized emission, and the striations indicate the direction of the magnetic field projected on the plane of the sky. The dark band running horizontally across the center corresponds to the Galactic Plane. Here, the polarization reveals a regular pattern on large angular scales, which is due to the magnetic field lines being predominantly parallel to the plane of the Milky Way. The data also reveal variations of the polarization direction within nearby clouds of gas and dust. This can be seen in the tangled features above and below the plane, where the local magnetic field is particularly disorganized.

The image is a Mollweide projection of the full celestial sphere, with the plane of the Galaxy aligned with the horizontal axis of the oval. Certain areas in the image, mostly at high Galactic latitude, have been masked out. The overall intensity in these regions is low, complicating the separation of foreground and CMB components. Further data analysis will improve this by the time of the full data release in late 2014.

Image credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Note: For more information, see Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy, Milky Way's Magnetic Fingerprint, PIA18048: Magnetic Map of Milky Way and Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy.

Makeup of Universe Before and After Planck Research

Planck's high-precision cosmic microwave background map has allowed scientists to extract the most refined values yet of the Universe's ingredients. Normal matter that makes up stars and galaxies contributes just 4.9% of the Universe's mass/energy inventory. Dark matter, which is detected indirectly by its gravitational influence on nearby matter, occupies 26.8%, while dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be responsible for accelerating the expansion of the Universe, accounts for 68.3%.

The 'before Planck' figure is based on the WMAP 9-year data release presented by Hinshaw et al., (2012).

Illustration credit: ESA

Note: For more information, see Last Command Sent to ESA's Planck Space Telescope; also, PIA17449: Planck and the Cosmic Microwave Background (Artist Concept) and Last Command Sent to Planck Space Telescope.

Gravitational Lensing of CMB Light

This artist’s impression shows how photons in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB, as detected by ESA’s Planck space telescope) are deflected by the gravitational lensing effect of massive cosmic structures as they travel across the Universe. Gravitational lensing creates tiny, additional distortions to the mottled pattern of the CMB temperature fluctuations. A small fraction of the CMB is polarized; one component of this polarized light, B-modes, have been given an additional signature by gravitational lensing. This imprint has been found for the first time by combining data from the ground-based South Pole Telescope and ESA’s Herschel space observatory.

Image credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Note: For more information, see PIA17448: Ancient Light Deflected, Long-Sought Pattern of Ancient Light Detected and Herschel Throws New Light on Oldest Cosmic Light.

E-Modes and B-Modes in the CMB Polarization from SPT and Herschel Data

A small portion of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is polarized, and the pattern observed in the polarized fraction can be split in two components, called E-modes and B-modes. These carry very different and complementary information about both the early and the late Universe. This image shows the data from the National Science Foundation's South Pole Telescope (SPT) and ESA's Herschel Space Observatory that were used to achieve the first detection of B-modes in the CMB polarization.

When the CMB photons travel through the large-scale structure of the Universe, they get deflected by large concentrations of mass such as galaxies, galaxy clusters and the dark matter halos in which these are embedded. One of the effects of this distortion is a mixing of E- and B-modes: part of the signal contained in E-modes is transferred to the B-modes.

The left panel shows the E-mode component of the polarized CMB as detected by SPT. The E-modes are affected by gravitational lensing, and the effect of such distortion is encrypted in the image.

The central panel shows the projected gravitational potential of the large-scale distribution of matter present on the line of sight to the CMB in the same field as the one observed by SPT. The gravitational potential has been inferred using data from Herschel, which probed the light emitted by stars and re-radiated by cosmic dust in all galaxies across cosmic history.

Since gravitational lensing turns part of the E-modes into B-modes, it is possible to combine the observed (and distorted) E-modes with the intervening gravitational potential that distorts them, to estimate the resulting B-modes caused by the gravitational lensing effect. The right panel shows the B-modes of the CMB polarization estimated in this way.

Image credit: D. Hanson, et al., 2013, Physical Review Letters

Note: For more information, see Herschel Throws New Light on Oldest Cosmic Light.

Revealing the Cosmic Microwave Background with Planck

This animation illustrates the painstaking detective work performed by cosmologists in the Planck Collaboration to extract the cosmic microwave background from 15.5 months of data collected by Planck.

The first image in the sequence shows the sources of emission detected on the whole sky at the microwave and submillimeter wavelengths probed by Planck, which range from 11.1 mm to 0.3 mm (corresponding to frequencies between 27 GHz and 1 THz).

The different sources include discrete emission from individual galactic and extragalactic sources, and diffuse radio and thermal emission from interstellar material in the Milky Way.

The cosmologists had to remove all possible contamination due to emission by foreground sources before they could fully explore the cosmic microwave background, which is unveiled in the final slide of the animation.

Video credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

All-Sky Map of Dark Matter Distribution in the Universe

This all-sky image shows the distribution of dark matter across the entire history of the Universe as seen projected on the sky. It is based on data collected with ESA's Planck satellite during its first 15.5 months of observations. Dark blue areas represent regions that are denser than the surroundings, and bright areas represent less dense regions. The gray portions of the image correspond to patches of the sky where foreground emission, mainly from the Milky Way but also from nearby galaxies, is too bright, preventing cosmologists from fully exploiting the data in those areas.

The image was compiled by analyzing the tiny distortions imprinted on the photons of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) by the gravitational lensing effect of massive cosmic structures. As photons traveled through these structures, which consist primarily of dark matter, their paths were bent, slightly changing the pattern of the CMB.

The reconstruction technique used to compile this image relies on deviations of the shapes of hot and cold spots in the CMB from their 'typical' shape, and it is impossible to avoid the introduction of statistical 'noise' in the reconstruction; approximately half of the modes in this image are due to this noise.

This image is the first measurement performed over almost the entire sky of the gravitational potential that distorts the CMB, and is one of the highlights of Planck's cosmological results. With these unique data, cosmologists can investigate 13 billion years of the formation of structure in the Universe. The data agree very well with the expectations from the leading cosmological model that describes the origin and evolution of cosmic structure in the Universe.

Image credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Note: For more information, see Planck Sees a Cosmic Journey 13 Billion Years in the Making.

Cosmic Microwave Background Map by Planck

This map shows the oldest light in our universe, as detected with the greatest precision yet by the Planck mission. The ancient light, called the cosmic microwave background, was imprinted on the sky when the universe was 370,000 years old. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities, representing the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today.

By analyzing the light patterns in this map, scientists are fine tuning what we know about the universe, including its origins, fate and basic components.

Image credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Note: This is a major, major story, and there is a lot of coverage. I will provide only a partial list of articles available, as long as this partial list is:
* PIA16874: The Universe Comes into Sharper Focus
* PIA16875: Map of Matter in the Universe
* PIA16876: The Story of Our Universe
* PIA16877: Peculiar Features in Patterns of Ancient Light
* PIA16878: Refining the Ingredients of Our Universe
* PIA16879: The Universe, Summed Up in a Squiggly Line
* PIA16880: Through the Universe's Looking Glass
* PIA16881: Sounds of the Ancient Universe
* PIA16882: A Journey of Light Through Space and Time
* Planck Mission Brings Universe Into Sharp Focus
* Supercomputer Helps Planck Mission Expose Ancient Light
* Universe Older Than Previously Thought
* Planck CMB
* Cosmic Microwave Background Seen by Planck
* Planck Maps the Dawn of Time
* Power Spectrum of Temperature Fluctuations in the CMB
* Replay: Planck's Cosmic Microwave Background map Media Briefing
* Replay of Planck media briefing - Part 2
* Planck Reveals 'Almost Perfect' Universe

Galaxy Supercluster PLCK G214.6+37.0

This image shows one of the newly discovered superclusters of galaxies, PLCK G214.6+37.0, detected by Planck and confirmed by XMM-Newton. This is the first supercluster to be discovered through its Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. The effect is the name for the cluster’s silhouette against the cosmic microwave background radiation. Combined with other observations, the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect allows astronomers to measure properties such as the temperature and density of the cluster’s hot gas where the galaxies are embedded. The right panel shows the X-ray image of the supercluster obtained with XMM-Newton, which reveals that three galaxy clusters comprise this supercluster. The bright orange blob in the left panel shows the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich image of the supercluster, obtained by Planck. The X-ray contours are also superimposed on the Planck image.

Image credit: ESA/Planck Collaboration; XMM-Newton image: ESA

Note: The Planck space observatory ran out of coolant this past January 14th for its High Frequency Instrument (HFI), ending that particular mission. However, the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) continues to work.

Cold Cores in the Milky Way

This map illustrates the numerous star-forming clouds, called cold cores, that Planck observed throughout our Milky Way galaxy. Planck, a European Space Agency mission with significant NASA participation, detected around 10,000 of these cores, thousands of which had never been seen before. Cold cores are chilly chambers of gas and dust where stellar embryos are just beginning to take shape. Some of the cold cores found by Planck are the coldest ever observed, as cold as just seven degrees above absolute zero, or minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit.

The blue data show the density of the cores, some of which are shaped more like clumps or filaments than spherical cores. Other missions, like the Herschel Space Observatory, can follow-up on the Planck discoveries, and see the structures in more detail.

Planck is an all-sky survey mission, scanning the sky at longer wavelengths of light, ranging from infrared to radio waves. Its ultimate goal is to measure the cosmic microwave background -- ancient radiation from the Big Bang that created our universe 13.7 billion years ago. But in the process of making these precise measurements, Planck is catching objects that lie in front of the cosmic microwave background -- objects like cold cores in our galaxy, in addition to distant galaxies.

About 1,000 of the cold cores observed by Planck are being released to the public January 11, 2011, in the mission's "Early Release Compact Source Catalogue." These are the best sources of the bunch, and the coldest.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Planck's Microwave Sky

This multi-color all-sky image of the microwave sky has been synthesized using data spanning the full frequency range of Planck, which covers the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 857 GHz.

The grainy structure of the CMB [Cosmic Microwave Background], with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which the cosmic web originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map, where the foreground contribution is not predominant.

A vast portion of the sky, extending well above and below the galactic plane, is dominated by the diffuse emission from gas and dust in the Milky Way, which shines brightly at Planck's frequencies. While the galactic foreground hides the CMB signal from our view, it also highlights the extent of our Galaxy's large-scale structure and its emission properties.

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This image is derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey, and covers about 12 months of observations.

Note: Because of the manner in which all the channels have been combined to produce this image, the colors no longer represent accurately the brightness at each frequency. The angular resolution of this image has been reduced by a factor of around three from its sharpest rendition, to better match it to a typical viewing screen.

Photo credit: ESA, HFI and LFI consortia

Note: The Minister is not happy with the definitions available on the Internet for "diffuse emission." The closest definition found says, "Emitters of radiation that covers a relatively large part of the sky are called extended sources." Diffuse in this case equates to "extended," meaning, the source of the radiation is not localized. A star is an example of a localized source of radiation; the radiation comes from a specific, discrete source. (Radiation may refer to any and/or all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.) Diffuse emission, on the other hand, refers to the emission of radiation from a source that is much broader than a localized emitter; indeed, the emissions may come from multiple sources that are either too numerous or too indistinct for scientific instruments to focus on discrete localized sources of emission. Examples of diffuse emission include nebulae and galaxies.